The Doctor (Jodi Whittaker) follows energy to Tesler's (Goran Visnjic) where he and Dorothy Skerrit (Hayley McGee) are being pursued by a hooded man shooting at them. She saves them and asks if he's seen anything unusual. The Doctor takes them to the train where the others are and the Doctor tells Tesler he's a liar. As the hooded man pursues them still. She manages to take his gun which she identifies as an alien weapon, obviously. As they manage to evade the man they end up at Tesler's lab, where she admits she was expecting to see more. Seems Yaz (Mandeep Gill) hasn't heard of him but everyone else has, where have you been Yaz? However Tesla is portrayed as more of an intellect than possessing any intellect for finance and well with his knack for inventions seems he should've had the same to help him get investors for his inventions.
He's in period America and is now rivals with Thomas Edison (Robert Glenister) after leaving his employ. Edison invented the light bulb, his name up in lights so you couldn't forget! Tesla and Edison competing between AC and DC currents. With added aliens, known as The Skithra, resembling giant scorpions with a Queen who is a pillager and looter of others' inventions, of course. Seemed different to other historical stories/characters they had on the show in that the Doctor was in awe of meeting him and really helped him save Earth, as well as having Tesla being open to the existence of aliens, which made it easy as he says he received a message from Mars with his Teslascope.
References to Tesla's future inventions are thrown in such as wi-fi as Ryan (Tosin Cole) comments and a look at Wardenclyffe Tower. When Edison's own lab is attacked and his workers killed, the Doctor finds out that the hooded man was holographically masked and taken over the face of Green, one of Edison's missing employees he had spying on Tesla. The Doctor also discovering that they end up running into a lab where she can mix some chemicals together and exact their escape. Also taking Edison into her TARDIS, where Graham (Bradley Walsh) ensures he doesn't touch anything.
With the Queen (Anjli Mohindra - who was in The Sarah-Jane Adventures) I thought of Madam Vastra for a second from the Paternoster Gang. Ha. They're after Tesla as they want him to create weapons and other things for themselves as they're too lazy to do it and the Doctor isn't impressed with this at all. As they come for Tesla, Yaz jumps with him into their beam and ends up on their ship, which is conveniently cloaked above New York City. Reminiscent of Ada Lovelace doing the same in Spyfall. The Queen threatens Yaz unless Tesla helps him. Meanwhile the Doctor finds a teleportation device she bought in a market and ends up on the ship rescuing them. The Queen now threatens the destruction of everyone unless she hands over Tesla. Seems she didn't really want Edison even though her holographic lacky did turn up at his place too.
They end up at Wardenclyffe where Tesla plans to generate electricity and the Doctor says they can get the energy to strike the ship. Leaving the others to raid his lab for weapons or anything they can fight the Skithra with. As Yaz and Edison get the people off the streets. Graham and Ryan find weapons, a gun which fizzles out at the last minute. As the Queen arrives at his lab, the Doctor tricks her into stealing the bracelet she used earlier and she's transported back to her ship where the electricity destroys her, thus wiping out the rest of the Skithera too, as they're a hive.
The Doctor getting back the Orb of Thassa which wasn't as significant other than it was modified to spy on Tesla, as it wasn't heard of again. And just leading the Doctor to her meeting with Tesla to begin with. That's why she called him a liar as he had the Orb. As with Rosa, this one is sad in places as Tesla never realized the glory he was after in the sense of his inventions being accredited in his lifetime, which left him penniless and accruing debt wherever he went. As Yaz feels sorry for him and he labels himself a man for the future. A moment of sadness for the Doctor as the Queen comments on the destruction of a planet and if she's seen it, a faint hint of Galifrey's music from the Spyfall ep was heard.
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